Fidel Castro lucid, still involved in major decisions: brother
HAVANA (AFP) — Ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro remains mentally acute and is consulted on major decisions despite some physical limitations, his brother and stand-in leader Raul Castro said.
Speaking Monday while on a visit to his constituency in Santiago de Cuba province, Raul Castro also said Fidel had the full backing of the Cuban Communist Party to seek a seventh five-year term in the National Assembly, a key step toward being renewed as the country's president.
Fidel Castro, Cuba's leader since he took power in 1959, has not appeared in public since he underwent surgery in late July 2006, and no detailed information on his health has been made public since then.
Fidel "is not bothered over little issues, but we consult him on all the major questions," said Raul, who was named to replace Fidel "temporarily" 17 months ago.
Raul said the 81-year-old Cuban strongman enjoys "a healthy mind, with full use of his mental faculties and some small physical limitations, the consequence of the problems he is suffering."
Owing to Fidel's recovery, Raul added, "all of the party leaders backed his standing again" for election to the assembly.
Reelection to the assembly in the January 20 national vote would be the first step towards Fidel being chosen again as the island's president. Speculation has been rife domestically and abroad over whether he would resume the presidency after his lengthy convalescence.
On Sunday and Monday Raul, 76, was traveling through electoral districts in Santiago de Cuba in eastern Cuba, where on December 2 the two brothers were nominated again to serve as representatives.
Raul on Monday gave Radio Rebelde the latest report on his brother's health, saying that he "exercises quite a bit every day, meditates a lot and also writes a little" for his weekly commentaries carried in Cuba's official newspapers.
But Raul also said that Fidel, who has appeared in videos and photographs but has not been seen in public since July 26, 2006, would not be able to personally deliver his good wishes to the local people.
Even if he is reelected as a deputy, it remains unclear if Fidel intends to resume the presidency. In cryptic comments written for the Cuban media earlier this month, Castro said he would allow a new generation of leaders to rise up.
"My basic duty is not to cling to (public) office, much less to block the rise of younger people, but to pass on experiences and ideas whose modest value arises from the exceptional era in which I lived," he wrote.
Analysts in the United States said that strongly suggested that Fidel Castro was ready to step aside, and that his brother might do so as well.
